I was born and brought up in an orthodox Christian family, where watching TV is a sin, movies are prohibited and watching content that would arouse one’s youthful effervescence is a sacrilege.
The human mind predominantly leans to pursue things that have been forbidden, I was no exception.
Unlike many others, I was a late bloomer and came to know the process of consummation only in my twelfth standard, when I chanced to read about it in Manorama Year book, while preparing for a Zonal quiz competition. To hell with the quiz competition, I was engrossed in the new revelation and read it all night in repeat mode, until my imaginations ran out of steam. To hell with the self-paced learning, I wanted to enable myself with video based learning tutorials.
We didn’t have internet back then and I wasn’t allowed to watch any of the ‘ahem’ channels. To add fuel to the fire, there was someone or the other always at home, monitoring everything I watched. Even if I happen to change channels when my mom was in kitchen, I would immediately hear a loud and clear voice
“What are you watching now.. why is the audio muted?”
I had prayed for my parents to go to some relative’s house and be back quite late in the night or better, the next day, but as fate would have it, it never happened. Even if such a rarity ever occurred, they would be back at an unprecedented hour giving me shivers. I would hold my book in hand and smile like a saint. My mom would touch the TV to see if its hot [it invariably would be] and smile like Sherlock.
WWE and their divas were the only saving grace, which I was allowed to watch and which satiated the over burning fire within… to some extent. .
Every class would have one silent, not so studious guy, who will be an expert in this all important ancient art and who would have the relevant artefacts /video tutorials on the topic. You could easily identify him by the willingness of other boys to always be around him, listening to his stories.
Kumar Kannan was that guy in our school. He had his own set of followers and fans. The jokes he cracked could be understood only by a secluded group of folks. He even had a collection of joke books. He was ‘The Guru’ back then.
I still remember the day when we were all seated under a tree around him, as he was narrating one of the most recent movies he had watched. The best thing about him was, he withheld no information. He would even describe in flamboyant detail, the design of the leading lady’s door knob. That was my first audio tutorial session and I was more than glad to have attended his sermon. .
Text book done, audio guide tour done, video tutorial was the only one left.
Ram, was another guy who had working parents and an elder brother, studying abroad. That lucky guy got to stay home all alone and watched any channels he liked. Zee MGM, F TV, Channel V, M TV and even SS music at late night, were the craze that time. People who grew up in 90s might know.
I once asked Ram to describe a particular scene in a movie he watched in Zee MGM. The poor guy was not that good a narrator like Kannan. He tried his best but finished it abruptly. I was sorely upset and pondered him to explain more in lurid detail. He didn’t know how to explain and said something inexplicably hilarious (which cant be posted here) and had me in splits. I laugh thinking about it, even today.
School was almost going to be over but I still hadn’t had my visual enlightenment. I told my aspiration [did you read as desperation?] to the enlightenment guru Kumar Kannan, who obliged to lead me towards light.
It was the last day of 12th and Kannan had invited us home. His parents had gone to office [should I necessarily add that ‘lucky’ tag here?]. Three of us gathered at his place, while the fourth guy came in late, with a CD in hand. It was the first time movie experience for me and I was nervously excited.
My whole life’s purpose was about to be achieved. I pinched myself to see if it were all real. It didn’t pain though, but the guy next to me let out a scream.
“Sorry da.. thought it was my hand” I blushed as he gaped at me.
I moved away, took one corner and stood silently to watch the movie. There were those silly giggles, understanding nods and an eerie silence in the room as the movie started to play.
3…2…1.. "Mida's Touch.." the title card displayed.
A few made faces, a few were deeply engrossed and there I was, wondering…
“Is that all?”
“All those imaginations I had, the sleepless nights, Is that all ?”
The first impression wasn’t that great, but I knew pretty well that it was not going to be just a one-time affair.
The movie was over in an hour or so and we started to leave his house to attend the School’s annual day function.
I reached school in about 40 minutes and started observing the proceedings. However, I still couldn’t get the imagery of the movie out of my mind. Physically I was in the school ground and mentally I was in [you guessed it right] his house. I was sitting in the crowd thinking of that particular [two flowers fill the screen here]…..
When I was called on stage to be given the award for the student with the best “Conduct” for that year. I came back to my senses and went to the stage to collect the award. The crowd gave a standing ovation.
Getting that award after the movie...Nothing has been more ironical in my life….. ever.
Now go back and read the title of this post !!
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
So, were you a lucky child or an unlucky one ?
How did your first visual enlightenment session go ?
The human mind predominantly leans to pursue things that have been forbidden, I was no exception.
Unlike many others, I was a late bloomer and came to know the process of consummation only in my twelfth standard, when I chanced to read about it in Manorama Year book, while preparing for a Zonal quiz competition. To hell with the quiz competition, I was engrossed in the new revelation and read it all night in repeat mode, until my imaginations ran out of steam. To hell with the self-paced learning, I wanted to enable myself with video based learning tutorials.
We didn’t have internet back then and I wasn’t allowed to watch any of the ‘ahem’ channels. To add fuel to the fire, there was someone or the other always at home, monitoring everything I watched. Even if I happen to change channels when my mom was in kitchen, I would immediately hear a loud and clear voice
“What are you watching now.. why is the audio muted?”
I had prayed for my parents to go to some relative’s house and be back quite late in the night or better, the next day, but as fate would have it, it never happened. Even if such a rarity ever occurred, they would be back at an unprecedented hour giving me shivers. I would hold my book in hand and smile like a saint. My mom would touch the TV to see if its hot [it invariably would be] and smile like Sherlock.
WWE and their divas were the only saving grace, which I was allowed to watch and which satiated the over burning fire within… to some extent. .
Every class would have one silent, not so studious guy, who will be an expert in this all important ancient art and who would have the relevant artefacts /video tutorials on the topic. You could easily identify him by the willingness of other boys to always be around him, listening to his stories.
Kumar Kannan was that guy in our school. He had his own set of followers and fans. The jokes he cracked could be understood only by a secluded group of folks. He even had a collection of joke books. He was ‘The Guru’ back then.
I still remember the day when we were all seated under a tree around him, as he was narrating one of the most recent movies he had watched. The best thing about him was, he withheld no information. He would even describe in flamboyant detail, the design of the leading lady’s door knob. That was my first audio tutorial session and I was more than glad to have attended his sermon. .
Text book done, audio guide tour done, video tutorial was the only one left.
Ram, was another guy who had working parents and an elder brother, studying abroad. That lucky guy got to stay home all alone and watched any channels he liked. Zee MGM, F TV, Channel V, M TV and even SS music at late night, were the craze that time. People who grew up in 90s might know.
I once asked Ram to describe a particular scene in a movie he watched in Zee MGM. The poor guy was not that good a narrator like Kannan. He tried his best but finished it abruptly. I was sorely upset and pondered him to explain more in lurid detail. He didn’t know how to explain and said something inexplicably hilarious (which cant be posted here) and had me in splits. I laugh thinking about it, even today.
School was almost going to be over but I still hadn’t had my visual enlightenment. I told my aspiration [did you read as desperation?] to the enlightenment guru Kumar Kannan, who obliged to lead me towards light.
It was the last day of 12th and Kannan had invited us home. His parents had gone to office [should I necessarily add that ‘lucky’ tag here?]. Three of us gathered at his place, while the fourth guy came in late, with a CD in hand. It was the first time movie experience for me and I was nervously excited.
My whole life’s purpose was about to be achieved. I pinched myself to see if it were all real. It didn’t pain though, but the guy next to me let out a scream.
“Sorry da.. thought it was my hand” I blushed as he gaped at me.
I moved away, took one corner and stood silently to watch the movie. There were those silly giggles, understanding nods and an eerie silence in the room as the movie started to play.
3…2…1.. "Mida's Touch.." the title card displayed.
A few made faces, a few were deeply engrossed and there I was, wondering…
“Is that all?”
“All those imaginations I had, the sleepless nights, Is that all ?”
The first impression wasn’t that great, but I knew pretty well that it was not going to be just a one-time affair.
The movie was over in an hour or so and we started to leave his house to attend the School’s annual day function.
I reached school in about 40 minutes and started observing the proceedings. However, I still couldn’t get the imagery of the movie out of my mind. Physically I was in the school ground and mentally I was in [you guessed it right] his house. I was sitting in the crowd thinking of that particular [two flowers fill the screen here]…..
When I was called on stage to be given the award for the student with the best “Conduct” for that year. I came back to my senses and went to the stage to collect the award. The crowd gave a standing ovation.
Getting that award after the movie...Nothing has been more ironical in my life….. ever.
Now go back and read the title of this post !!
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
So, were you a lucky child or an unlucky one ?
How did your first visual enlightenment session go ?
very funny gubbly :)
ReplyDelete:-)
ReplyDeleteDanks Christy :D
ReplyDeleteHe he sis ;)
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